Shop has guns, knives, know-how

POST FALLS – In his more than 30 years in the firearms business, Robert Wyckoff has amassed much more than the guns, knives and assorted accessories that fill his Going Ballistic store.

Wyckoff has immersed himself in gun culture. A shooter connoisseur, he is as at home behind the counter talking shop with customers as he is at the shooting range drawing a bead on a far-off target. He’s built his business on providing all things related to firearms, including a wealth of weapon know-how that his customers have come to rely on.

“I’m a gun guy. I’ve been selling guns for over 30 years,” said the 52-year-old, who co-owns the ballistics business in Post Falls’ Milltown Center with his wife, Lianne. “We really are one of the last all-around gun shops left.”

The narrow, display-lined store offers a variety of pistols and long guns, with everything from the familiar, such as the Glock 17 model pistol, to the hard-to-find, including the assault rifle-hybrid Golani Sporter. Prices for most armaments range from about $200 to $500 or $600 for the higher-end guns. In addition to offering new and used firearms, weapon modifications, tracking down collectibles and all the related ballistic trimmings, the store can sell customers’ guns on consignment.

In addition to an assortment of ammo, accessories knives, swords, machetes, hunting knives and other bladed weapons from manufacturers including Kershaw and Cold Steel, there is another important aspect to the business, Wyckoff said. In the back of the store, beyond the owner’s assorted awards, trophies and bull’s-eye-riddled targets for sharp-shooting competitions, a double-belted blade sharpener with a leather finishing wheel sits ready to bring the dullest of blades back to fresh-from-the-factory sharpness. In fact, Wyckoff said, hairdressers, chefs and people in related professions are some of his best repeat customers.

“It’s hard to have someone do it right and maintain that factory edge,” he said.

While people are encouraged to stop by and examine the store’s blade and barrel collections, the business has become something like a coffee shop for the local gun enthusiast crowd. Wyckoff, an Arizona transplant who moved to North Idaho 15 years ago and previously worked at Black Sheep Sporting Goods in Coeur d’Alene, has built a following by combining North Idaho’s gun culture with coffee-table camaraderie.

“There are a lot of gun people up here. We have some competitive shooters here,” he said, adding that everyone is welcome. Customers range from cops looking to have their back-up firearms safety certified to couples wanting a pistol for personal protection. “This is a comfortable little store where you can come in and talk and take your time. … I’ve had a lot of people tell me they think it’s a comfortable, colorful store.”

A handful of regulars even volunteer their free time and firearm expertise to help as store assistants.

Even though Wyckoff’s ballistic business is a smaller player in North Idaho’s robust gun and knife industry, he said his shop south of I-90 has carved out its own identity. “It’s been a dream pretty much my whole life,” he said about owning the shop. “So far we’re hanging in there. We have some competition, but they don’t do what we do. So they’re not competition in that way.”